Choice Words: Performance serves as platform

WESTWORD Denver CO

Choice Words

A reproductive-rights performance serves as a platform for discussion.

by Amber TaufenThursday, Oct 2 2008

As a pro-choice feminist, I have some choice words I’d like to share with the multitude of people who think it’s their right to dictate what I do with my body. But most of them are unprintable, and anyway, the people behind the New-York based Words of Choice performance can say it better.

“It’s a collection of pieces,” explains Susann Brinkley of Words, with the entire production performed by three actors. “Some of them are real writings, like letters to Supreme Court Justice Blackmun, and some theatrical pieces. There’s always a discussion after the show so people can talk; it’s about starting or enhancing the dialogue in the community.

“We think Words of Choice serves as a platform for further discussion on a local level,” Brinkley continues. “There are all kinds of reaction. As intense as the country is on both sides, that shows up at these performances sometimes. It also becomes a place where people are so moved, and they tell their own stories, pro and con. And it really, really, really is about talking. We would love people to understand our point of view and carry that out, but we’re also interested in talking about it, because it’s complicated. Everybody understands that. It’s really about serving as a platform for conversation.”

Words of Choice opens today at noon at the University of Denver’s Chambers Center, 1901 East Asbury Avenue, and continues through October 22 at various locations across the metro area and beyond. Those performing will undoubtedly be more entertaining and better spoken than me on a rant.